Grand Admiral Thrawn Joins Star Wars Rebels

It’s official – Grand Admiral Thrawn is back.

After the ‘Star Wars’ Expanded Universe was canned by Disney, it looked as though any hopes that Grand Admiral Thrawn would appear in the movies were dashed. Created by writer Timothy Zahn, he’s a legendary ‘Star Wars’ villain to the more hardcore fans… but the more casual geek may not have even heard of him.

Thankfully, that’s about to change.

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During the ‘Star Wars Rebels’ panel at Star Wars Celebration Europe, it was announced that Grand Admiral Thrawn will be joining Series 3 of the animated ‘Star Wars’ TV show… and we even got our first glimpse of the Grand Admiral in action.

“To defeat an enemy, you must know them,” he says during the official trailer. “Not just their battle tactics, but their history.”

“They will be the architects of their own destruction.”

And it’s every bit as sinister as you might hope.

Grand Admiral Thrawn was introduced in Timothy Zahn’s ‘Heir to the Empire’ and soon became one of the most popular figures of the ‘Star Wars’ Expanded Universe. Taking the reins of the Empire after ‘Return of the Jedi’, Thrawn was a force to be reckoned with.

And now it looks as though Zahn is returning to this iconic character with a new book, simply titled ‘Thrawn’ which is due for release in spring 2017.

Not just a small cameo, then…

But will we see his rise to power?

Obviously, ‘Star Wars Rebels’ is set during an entirely different time period – set between the events of ‘Revenge of the Sith’ and ‘A New Hope’. But while Thrawn isn’t quite the chiss we know and love, it looks as though we’re about to see his climb to the top.

After all, he has just been made Grand Admiral.

Grand Admiral Thrawn will be voiced by Lars Mikkelsen – brother of ‘Rogue One’ star, Mads Mikkelsen… and with Season 3 of ‘Star Wars Rebels’ on its way, it won’t be long before we finally see Thrawn on screen.

Could this open up avenues to see Thrawn head to the movies?

For now, we’ll have to wait and see…

But I wouldn’t be surprised if he got a small cameo during ‘Rogue One’.

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Picture Credit: Lucasfilm